Startup founders share experiences at first annual Propel CEO Summit

Why hasn’t someone already done this? That question came up more than once as entrepreneurs took the mic at the start of our first annual gathering of startup leaders and our BBVA partners in Sausalito this April. The whirlwind introductions touched on:

What would it mean to have a portable, universal, digital ID?

How can employers offer more versatile benefits?

What are the possibilities for AI—and what’s already here?

We took a deep dive into the process of tech startups approaching large financial institutions for partnerships. BBVA’s Derek White advised how tech providers need to: identify who’s going to make the decision, help them sell it in-house, and anticipate a bank’s most pressing questions.

Long time payments entrepreneur and publisher of the Multiplex blog Brian Roemmele joined us as a special guest and highlighted opportunities for voice commerce to transform the broader financial services landscape. Brian described the differences between near-field voice commerce modalities (Airpods + Siri) and far-field modalities (Echo + Alexa).

In our “Quick Start” session Aaron Harris of Y-Combinator, along with Kevin Busque of Guideline and Aaron Krane of Drive, discussed the pace of starting a new company, how to set meaningful metrics, and knowing when to let go.

We are excited to partner with these startup founders as they continue to execute on their ideas as they rethink and rebuild financial services.